Posts in "The Federal Reserve"

...by "expert" I mean Paul Krugman. Here is a guy who is, essentially, the economic authority in America. He teaches at Princeton, won the Nobel Prize in Economics (which is almost as insane as Obama winning the Nobel Prize for anything), and, worst of all, preaches his Keynesian blather all over the New York Times for every impressionable would-be scholar to read.

Now, what has Krugman said that perterbs me so? Well, honestly, its just that he was mentioned in an article and it got me thinking about it again, but soon enough I was back to fond memories of Krugman preaching how wonderful our economy is, how we need to offset the dot-com bubble with a housing bubble, how interest rates need to go lower and lower and government spending needs to go higher and higher. And while every “expert” on Wall Street, at the Fed, and on the Hill is crying the same thing (except Ron Paul of course) while simultaneously mocking legit economists like everyone at the Mises Institute, Peter Schiff, and, to some extent, Jim Rogers for their archaic outlook on economics.

The crowd reflexively laughed at Dr. No's perceived looniness and pundits have already depicted his concerns as "wild" and "odd."

Well, it seems that Paul may have been onto something...or at the very least raised legitimate questions that deserve investigation. A few minutes on Google news produced this 1982 story from theMilwaukee Sentinel by Richard Bradee of the paper's Washington Bureau:

"Police who searched the room the Watergate burglars used found $4,200 in $100 dollar bills, all numbered in sequence. Proxmire asked the Federal Reserve Board where the money came from. As he explained in a letter to the late Rep. Wright Patman (D-Tex.), chairman of the House Banking Committee: "I got the biggest run-around in years. They ducked, misled, lied, and gave me the idiot treatment."

Writing on the origins of the Federal Reserve, Murray Rothbard discussed the philosophy which helped produce it and which still dominates our political discourse today: progressivism. It's not a commonly used word in modern politics, though it has of late become more popular as a self-descriptor on the left. Nonetheless, progressivism is a philosophy of social democracy, based in the general will of Rousseau, which seeks to improve society -- to make it progress -- through government intervention and programs.

Most examples of what is now called a "liberal" or a "leftist" is much more accurately termed a "progressive." (The distinction is important, I promise. Who hasn't been confused or confusing when trying to talk about classical liberalism with those who think of "liberals" as people who support overwhelming government intervention in the economy? Call them progressives instead and your problem goes away.) At any rate, Rothbard writes:

The Federal Reserve Act of December 23, 1913, was part and parcel of the wave of Progressive legislation on local, state, and federal levels of government that began about 1900. Progressivism was a bipartisan movement that, in the course of the first two decades of the 20th century, transformed the American economy and society from one of roughly laissez-faire to one of centralized statism.

Check out this article written by my favorite Doctor, Rep. Ron Paul. Paul argues for more transparency from the Fed, and gives reasons why HR 1207 is an important piece of legislation.

For nearly 100 years the Federal Reserve has operated largely in the shadows. The Fed’s monetary policy operations, including open-market operations and agreements with foreign governments and central banks, are exempt from audit by the Government Accountability Office.

...you know, the one up there on the top right of YAL's homepage? You can follow it on Twitter for some good laughs ("Seriously. Seriously. Seriously. Seriously. No, seriously. I've got to drop a lot of cash over the capitol next week.") and semi-regular updates on what Ben and the Fed are up to.
The Official Twitter of the Federal Reserve's Money Drop Helicopter.
Don't forget to follow YAL too while you're at it!

Looking at that title, I'm wondering if we'll be seeing any more "militia" branding in the near future...
Anyway, if you can get to a fax machine today, consider sending a few copies of the fliers over at the Daily Paul to your Congressmen (if they haven't cosponsored the bill yet), along with a short letter detailing your support of the transparency of the Federal Reserve the bill calls for.
You can read the beautifully simple and concise bill here on its govtrack page

The Washington Post published a story yesterday entitled "How the Fed Failed to Tell Obama About the Bonuses," referring to, of course, the scandal du moment in D.C. The story is interesting, but it's not news to us; we've known for a long time coming that Bernanke and the institutionalized theft he represents have been stealing the value from our currency for decades.